


The Krystal Chronicles: Earth

by J_Linz



Category: Original Work
Genre: African American, Aliens, Black Voices, Earth, Fiction in Color, Genderless, Love Triangle, Mars, Military, Other, Outer Space, Romance, Saturn - Freeform, Scifi Romance, Secrets, Space Opera, Space Pirates, Venus - Freeform, ficiton, space travel, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26981806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Linz/pseuds/J_Linz
Summary: Krystal Miles comes from a long line of engineers, her family being the ones responsible for extended space travel. Unfortunately, she decides to enlist as a medic instead of an engineer in the Intergalactic Marines. Hoping to make a name for herself as a medic and not an engineer, Krystal is selected as the head medic for the ESX Vesper, a military cargo craft.She meets Lieutenant Uepar, a genderless Saturnian and communications officer of the Vesper, and there is a certain attraction between the two. However, they know that there is something different about Krystal, and wonders why she's keeping her secret to herself.While traveling through the Quadrant, the crew encounters a stranded Venusian, Klazid Ser, a victim of a space pirate attack. The Vesper crew decides to take him in, to take him to an outpost on their delivery path. He is immediately drawn to Krystal but he also feels that she's hiding something about herself.Will this supply trip through Quadrant Two be as easy as the crew expects? And what do Uepar and Klazid know about Krystal?





	1. Disclaimers

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or otherwise, is unintentional and purely coincidental. The author makes no monetary value in the writing of this story.

Also to note, the author is not affiliated with any space or science program, and therefore, there will be things inaccurate. Just keep in mind that this is a work of fiction.

As always, this is a first draft/as-is story. There may be mistakes as far as grammar and punctuation so while I appreciate readers pointing them out, nine times out of ten, I know of said mistakes.

A last reminder: I love Kudos, Bookmarks, and Subscriptions about as much as Comments. If you're enjoying this story, please don't hesitate to let me know by doing one or all of them; I ain't picky!

_Cover Art!!_

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	2. Prologue/Intro

The one thing that I hated about things was the fact my parents thought I couldn’t hear them. The walls in the house weren’t super thin, but thin enough to hear people when they tried to talk low. 

Either that or my hearing was outstanding. 

It wasn’t bad, not like they were arguing. I just smiled and looked over the brochure that was sent to me personally.

“She’s at that age, Yolanda. You knew they would want her because of her last name alone.” my dad sighed out, at least it sounded that way. For as long as I could remember, my parents never argued. They would talk to each other, voice their different opinions, and come to a compromise. 

“I don’t think she’s ready. We’ve been here for so long–”

“How about we let her decide? Krys is so headstrong, you know this.”

“Yes. She gets it from you.” I couldn’t see their faces, but I imagined the smirk and eye roll that my mom gave my dad at that moment. I always thought she hated the fact I looked almost exactly like her, but I was my dad through and through.

Their talk was over and I had to pretend that I wasn’t listening in. Music flowed through my ears from my audio cell, drowning out any outside sound. I pretended to be startled when my door swung open and my dad’s face appeared.

“Sorry kid, you got those things too loud again. Probably why you didn’t hear me,” he smirked as I removed the tiny buds from my ears.

“Sorry,” I sat up in my bed and then looked at the projector clock on the wall. “Dinner’s ready?”

“Soon. Your mom cooked your favorite.” this I didn’t know, so my reaction was genuine.

“Mom got them?”

“Mm-hmm. It feels like a celebration, but let’s talk about it over dinner.” he smiled widely and I got up to eat.

We were an average family if I had to be honest. With the exception that my family was the reason for space travel. We were the engineers responsible, with my great-great-great… great grandfather being the first to come up with the designs for the first ships able to withstand lengthier space travel. Not to say that his ships set everything in motion, but they helped a great deal.

The Miles name became world known and every Miles who went into the military or into science went in as an engineer. At least that’s how the story goes. I couldn’t imagine how things were back then but for as long as I could remember, as long as my parents remembered, you could only become an engineer by enlisting into the Intergalactic Marines, which meant a Miles was always military.

At the dinner table, the sight of the brochure played throughout my mind. I had studied it for an hour, knew it by heart: on the last page was a tribute to the forefathers of military advancement and in the fifth row, third across was the slightly grainy image of Terrance Miles. The genes were strong because I could definitely point out similar features in my dad; the only difference was that he had caramel skin and not the dark mahogany of Terrance.

I savored the dinner: a ribeye steak with white rice and broccoli. All were scarce unless you were rich or shared a lineage with a Miles. We tried not to bank on the family name, but I would not complain about the special treat of a dinner. I had heard the old folks talk about how rice used to not be as scarce, and it could be with every meal.

Still, I savored it.

“Have you decided?” my mom asked out of the blue. I always thought she was beautiful, and that I wanted to be the same dark skin tone as herself but I ended up with my dad’s. She was just so elegant-looking. 

I nodded and finished what I had in my mouth. The decision was always easy for me, ever since I was twelve. I belonged in the military. Even if I wasn’t a Miles, I would have the desire to enlist as it was. Attempt to get into the space exploration branch and not become stuck planet-bound. A lot of us who took up residency on the outposts didn’t want to be stuck there. It was good for the older folks, but not for someone my age. 

“I want to join,” I said after I could speak. My dad’s eyes gleamed a bit while mom’s dimmed. “But… I want to work with the medics.” I finished and watched them carefully.

You could hear a pin drop on the carpet with as much silence as there was in the room.


	3. One

I had a feeling that my decision would make both parents put their foot down. It was one thing to enlist, but for a Miles, it was another to  _ not  _ go into engineering. It just didn’t call to me. I tried: in prime school, there were assessment tests given and I wanted to pass the design portion. But when it was laid out in front of me and I looked over the questions… it didn’t appeal to me. I scraped by while everywhere else I excelled. My dad joked and said that he had failed his assessment altogether but still became an engineer: it was simply in the Miles bloodline. 

They never expected that I would choose the medical field, and I honestly knew of no relative who had at least done anything other than engineering in the military. Not every Miles joined, that was true. I knew for sure that they would disown me, but after an hour of awkward silence, my parents were all smiles and I prepared to leave.

We had only been on Outpost T for a few years with my dad retiring early from the service. They deemed the domed settlement Paradise, and many families with enough money made their home there. It boasted of elite schools and an overall great environment for us to be raised around. Most of the Enlisted who made it through the ranks quickly came from Outpost T or a few sections of Earth. We definitely weren’t the first Miles to live there.

Still, I would miss the outpost, I knew this as I made my way on the elite cruiser that would send us to Earth. The majority on the ship was bound for enlistment, so we all had that glassy-eye stare about us. But it didn’t last long as they put us in stasis for the trip. By the time we climbed out of our chamber tubes, we were looking at the all too familiar sight of the blue rock we called Earth. 

I actually loved Earth; nature was authentic there. I was born on Earth, but by the time I was ten, we moved to Outpost T. But everything was so real on Earth, particularly the weather. I looked on in slight excitement as we made our descent through the grayish clouds, no longer anxious about what was to come for my training.

According to our history pamphlets, the way basic training ran hadn’t changed much. The enlistees were already assigned a uniform, but it was more or less to show where we came from. We were rudely ushered off the vessel by a crew of instructors yelling orders, mainly telling us to hurry and get into formation accordingly. 

Our solar system had become integrated after mankind could travel past the moon and Mars, which meant we found out we weren’t alone in the universe. It made me giggle to think humans believed at one point they were the only ones in this solar system. It made no sense, even to a then five-year-old me: the place was just too big!

Either way, humans weren’t the only ones becoming enlisted into the Intergalactic Marines, and while I was used to seeing different species, it was another thing to train alongside them. I tried to stay still, to stay in the position of attention while the Colonel of the base welcomed us to “the beginning of the end of your life”. But it was hard for me to do so, I wanted to look at the different uniforms and try to pinpoint where people came from.

“Snap to attention, wandering eyes!” an instructor barked at me. I did so and felt my cheeks ache as I heard the others around me try to keep their snickers in. The instructor put her attention on those and I could finally breathe normally. 

After all the turmoil, they rushed us inside the building and they put us in platoons according to our job class. I knew that there would be a mistake when:

“Miles, engineer platoon.” the instructor didn’t even look, just assumed. I swallowed hard and went up to him.

“Sir? Sorry sir, but-”

“Are you deaf, enlistee?” he quirked a brow at me and I wanted to run away. I couldn’t, of course.

“I’m not supposed to be in the engineering class, sir.” I stood my ground. I knew that regardless of whose fault it was, it was a huge no-no to switch job classes. 

“The hell you aren’t. You’re a Miles ain’t you?” he gave me a bewildered look, his accent told me he was from the southern states.

“Y-Yes sir but-”

“A Miles ain’t never been nothing else  _ but _ an engineer!” our ruckus caused an officer to come by.

“Problem with an enlistee, Instructor Barnes?” she asked, and he gave her a quick salute.

“She says she’s not going into the engineer platoon. She’s a Miles.” he gestured his head towards me. I was as tall as my parents, so I didn’t have to literally look up to too many people I came across, even at the ripe age of fifteen.

“Hmm,” the officer quirked a brow at me and then took the tablet out of Instructor Barnes’ hands. She made an “o” with her lips and then her eyes brightened. “The enlistee is right. She’s not in the engineer class; she’s medic.” it sounded like she questioned everything and I wanted to smile, but my dad warned me about doing so during training.

“What?” Barnes choked on air and looked at the tablet once more. “I’ll be damned. This ain’t a glitch?”

“I purposely signed up for medic, sir…” I tried and both looked at me.

“Fine. Miles, medic.” Barnes grumbled, and I went over to the right platoon.

I never expected for my decision to make a huge difference in the way they treated me during the first segment of basic training. It was bad enough that they constantly reminded me I would get no special treatment just because of my last name, something my dad told me would happen, anyway. I wasn’t looking for any special treatment, but I never expected disdain from the others. 

“I can’t believe you’re a Miles. In the  _ medic _ class…” my bunk buddy grumbled as we did rack PT; apparently, that never changed either. 

I sighed as I did my pushups, my feet locked between the rails of the foot of the cot. At least the reason for us doing rack PT in the middle of the night wasn’t my fault.

“I don’t understand why that’s so hard for people to–”

“Are you kidding me? Your family’s been engineers for as long as anyone can remember!” he stopped for a moment to glare at me but then went back to his pushups. “Are there even any civvies in your family?”

“There’s plenty of–”

“I guess this is too easy for Miles and Carlton! You two, six inches!” our instructor bellowed. We both grumbled as we unhooked our feet, laid on the ground, and kept our legs up six inches above the floor.

Aside from the slight disdain, basic was easy. You kept your mouth shut and did what you were told. It helped that my dad told me how to take things. Regardless of what job class you went into, you had to learn how to defend yourself. There were places that still needed defending, even more so with the outposts. It was the Intergalactic Marines who took care of that, and whether you were a soldier or medic, you never knew when that time would come. So they trained everyone to fight.

The first portion of basic training came easy for not just me but many people. It was the training for your job where things got a bit harder, depending on what your job class was. Soldiers were just taught more on how to fight: tactics and all. Regardless of what others told me, I found that medical was the toughest, a reason I selected that job instead of engineering. The schematics of a ship didn’t interest me, anatomy did. I wanted to know how the inside of a body worked, and how to fix it. Technology came a long way since the 21st century: we could cure ailments with a simple wave of a wand. There were still things that a medic needed to physically do, and I wanted to learn  _ that _ .

Those who were mentally strong enough graduated from phase one of basic after four months, I graduated top of my platoon, fourth overall. Of course, I heard the under the breath remarks, that “that’s expected of a Miles” and a part of me wished I could’ve changed my last name before enlisting. Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy, that was for sure.

They transported us to the next phase of basic and for me, that was eight months of undergoing medical training. The medic class from our company had joined with the others around the entire base to learn our potential job. That was the hard part, learning how to do my job. It didn’t help that I was one of the youngest, but I also was a higher rank than most of the medic enlistees. 

We had more freedom than in phase one, and I was glad that it reduced the number of yelling instructors down to two… and not so much yelling. They granted us weekend liberties, and we took high advantage of them. I was too young to drink, but I could do everything else. We weren’t allowed to get body mods until after all the training was done, but everything else was on the table. As medics, not too many of us would take advantage of weekend liberty and many of us found ourselves still in the barracks, studying. I would take that time to work out: for some reason, medics didn’t have to endure as much physical training as the other job classes, and I didn’t want to become lazy.

“So, what made you decide to become a medic instead of an engineer?” Helkro asked me while we both were in the training facility. She was full Mercurian and beautiful if I had to say so myself. Earth’s atmosphere had transformed her skin to a translucent color with a hint of gold speckled throughout. Behind their backs, we called them space ghosts, but a few didn’t take this to heart. But their bodies were very solid and highly durable, making them the best choice of becoming soldiers in the Marines. 

I always wondered why Helkro had a need to even use the training facility as much as she did.

“I was never interested in engineering.” I shrugged and reduced the speed of the treadmill. Unlike the relics, all I needed to do was slow my pace, and the machine adjusted. 

Helkro still kept hers at the insane pace as she chuckled, the sound was very musical just like her voice overall. “And here we always believed it was imbedded into your DNA! How did your father take the news?”

“I’m here,” I laughed a little. “I guess my best option would’ve been to wait until I was of Earth legal age and then enlist, it would’ve been my choice alone. But he didn’t fuss at all. Surprised, of course. But he took it quite well and has been my biggest supporter.” I smiled, thinking about the recorded notes he and mom constantly sent to me throughout my training. Even in phase two, they didn’t let up.

“Amazing. My parents have yet to contact me.” there was a sad tone behind what she said, and it made me stop altogether to look at her. Her facial expression hadn’t changed, her vividly orange eyes looked straight ahead to the small holographic screen on her machine: she was running through a simulated exotic forest. From the looks of it, it may have been Mercurian, the so-called trees were dull and still like statues.

“That’s sad,” I spoke after a bit of silence, but she shrugged and finally slowed down if only for a bit.

“Unlike earthlings, we get little support from our parental units. Even if we did, we learn that we have to care for ourselves. Decisions about our lives are up to  _ us _ , not anyone else. I wanted to enlist, it wasn’t up to anyone else but myself. I honestly like that you did what  _ you _ wanted to do, even though I know how human parents operate.” she explained, all while looking at me. I could do nothing but blink and smile. Helkro was right: this was my decision to make. I shouldn’t have to do what others felt I needed to do. 

I needed to make my own path in life, one away from engineering. I would be Krystal Miles, Intergalactic Marines medic.


	4. Two

Despite going on a different path, I made it out of all my training with high marks. I was told that most medics never left off-planet and if they did, it was only for a short period: a few outposts had a limited number of medics and would request the help of a military one. 

My semi dream of going back to Outpost T was dulled, but I had no problem staying on Earth.

Two years had passed without incident, and I had gone through the ranks like it was butter. I never was volunteered to go off-planet, but that wasn’t a terrible thing: only the lower-ranking medics were sent on missions like that. Now that I was Chief Warrant Officer Miles, I actually had a say so in who was sent where if need be.

I was in my office when one of the lower-ranking medics came in with a smile on his face. He remembered his military manners and saluted, but I waved it off with a laugh. “You’re in a good mood. Your leave got approved?”

“Yes ma’am, but that’s not the only thing. Word has it that someone’s being assigned to go off-planet soon.” he continued to beam, and I stopped looking over paperwork.

“Really? Well, I only approve medics so it’s not–”

“It’s you, ma’am.”

“Wait. How did  _ you _ find out before I did?” I smiled at him. 

“I always keep my ears to the ground, you know that.” he chuckled. Specialist Bailey was half-human/half Plutonian, so his comment about his ears didn’t go over my head: one of the main traits of a Plutonian was their large, almost cartoonish ears. 

Unfortunately for Bailey, he had a lot of his father’s physical traits.

“Fine. What else did you hear?”

“That’s about it, actually. It’s a new mission and they want you as head medic.”

“Well… I guess you’ll be on mission with me if it’s true.”

It was true. A week later was when I received the official gram. It made me curious though because the mission only required us to drop off supplies throughout Quadrant Two, which included Venus, Earth, Mercury, and Mars and most of the outposts in the Milky Way. It wouldn’t be a dangerous mission, but more like a tedious one. It made me wonder why it wasn’t assigned to a commercial company.

Nevertheless, I made my preparations which included calling my parents and letting them know if I could butter up the captain, they could expect a visit in the next six months or so. Although the ships had long since upgraded to withstand traveling at the speed of light, it was a safety hazard to do so throughout the galaxy: we would cruise through Quad Two at normal speed.

A lot of me was excited about going on my first mission. So much so that I found myself in the expansive field that led to the hangars of space ships on base. On the main airwalk was the ESX Vesper, the craft next in line to launch–also the one I needed to be on board soon-ish. Thunder rumbled in the near distance and it made me look up. I was gonna miss that sound, along with the other sights and sounds Earth offered: although it was only two years, I had gotten re-used to those earthling sounds. 

We would be gone for a year at best, so I studied the dark gray clouds above before closing my eyes to take in a deep breath. The aroma of the imminent storm filled my nostrils, and I embraced that scent. 

“Man, I hope this doesn’t cancel takeoff. I heard it’s always the small missions that get delayed.” a man’s voice interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes and turned to give him at least my signature glare, but I immediately saw the insignia on the shoulder of his jacket first: three dark purple swirls in a triangular form. I knew that as the head medic, I would outrank any and everyone on the ship regardless of what their insignia stated, so there was no need for me to salute him. 

But the Vesper would be Captain Nathan Williams’ ship, and I had the utmost respect for him.

Which… it was the first time I had laid eyes on him and I had to say, he looked way younger than I expected. “Sir–” 

“Ack, none of that officer!” he waved a dismissive hand, and I saw that he noticed my insignia, which was a silver circle trimmed in gold. Right below it was the medical logo patch: I found out it hadn’t changed since its inception. The color did, depending on which base you trained for your job class and I was glad that it wasn’t baby blue but a shimmering gold. “We’re going to be on our mission for God knows how long, and you’re responsible for my health. We can skip the formalities from here on out.” his blue eyes shone as he spoke to me. He didn’t look as though he was mixed with an alien species, so the gleam in his eyes was a natural one, and I had no idea if he was flirting.

No one ever flirted with me, that I knew of.

The captain was handsome, looking like what people have always deemed to be the “All-American male” with his matching blond, curly locks. He was taller than me, and with the way the uniform fit him, Captain Williams was in very good shape. He probably played football in secondary school and could take me down with ease during a good spar.

As much as I wanted to talk about how old he was, I saw that we weren’t alone and my eyes went to the one standing behind him. It wasn’t his rank of lieutenant that caught my eye, but his overall appearance. His skin was a medium purple and his eyes literally glittered as he stared at me, which was distracting in a good way: the sclera was pitch black, but the irises and pupils were a deep shade of pink.

It was the first time that I had seen a Saturnian so up close and personal, and there was no disappointment.

He gave me a slight smile and an odd shiver coursed through my entire body, only by sheer willpower did I keep it at bay. I cleared my throat and gave him a slight smile back before putting my attention back on Nathan. “Is he your second in command then?” I thought it was a decent enough question, but boy was I wrong when they both gave me a shocked look.

“You, you don’t know anything about Saturnians, do you?” Nathan quirked a brow. I opened my mouth to answer, but I wound up just having a slacked jaw. I honestly didn’t.

I knew they were from Saturn and its moons, particularly Titan: those Saturnians were the ones who adapted best to any atmosphere, including Earth’s. I knew their outer anatomy: they were the closest to humanoid without having to shape-shift and depending on if they were from the actual planet or one of the moons was depending on their shade of purple. I glanced over at him and his thick tail swayed gently towards the ground where it narrowed gradually to a spiky tip. If he were to fully smile at me, I would see the razor-sharp teeth in his mouth as well.

Other than that, I drew a blank on Saturnians. I knew nothing about their culture or what they preferred to eat or anything like that. Again, this was the first time I was so close to one. I closed my mouth and shook my head. “I’m sorry. If I said something that offended you…”

“Don’t worry. I see that you didn’t know,” his voice was light and airy. Not as singsong as a Mercurian’s but it was almost hypnotically pleasing. “Saturnians are, I suppose you would say genderless, to explain it better for you.” he–well, seeing what they said, I guess it was wrong of me to use that pronoun now–explained to me. 

I just blinked for a moment. I was familiar with the different pronouns and all the spectrums that belonged to the LGBT community; I was definitely an ally. It had never dawned on me until then that it would apply to aliens. There was the one speculation that had been there since humans found out about aliens and shapeshifters, that the shape-shifting ones were always considered pan.

But that was a debate for another day.

“O-Oh. Then what should I call you?” I honestly wanted and  _ needed  _ to know. Times had definitely changed since my grandparents and great-grandparents were my age. They used to shy away from asking that sort of question because, for some reason, they deemed it rude. Grant it, our generation didn’t just approach strangers and asked what pronoun they used, but beings weren’t as sensitive to the question anymore.

With so many body mods around, people stopped assuming gender and just flat out asked.

“You can call me by my name or rank. Or both: Lieutenant Uepar,” they said and smiled widely, showing off their rows of sharp teeth, just as I imagined. Was it a bit intimidating? Yes, but I had seen far more menacing aliens, and Uepar was very pleasant to look at.

I smiled back and shook the taloned-hand they offered. “Krystal. Erm, Miles. Dr. Miles.” for a split second, I forgot that we were military personnel.

“Miles?” Nathan gave me a look that I had long since gotten used to. “Your ancestors built the first ships to go beyond Mars. You’re… supposed to be an engineer…” 

“Guess that trait skipped me, it happens.” I shrugged with a smile, shaking Nathan’s hand. “Didn’t score too well on that part of the SMET. Everything else was above standard, so I actually had my choice of other job classes.” 

“And you chose medical. Risky choice.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Captain. Not too many medics go off-planet, so her duties would be much more utilized here. Unless we run into space pirates, she might become a bit, bored.” Uepar nodded, and I chuckled.

“The lieutenant has a point.”

“Well, we all know that you’ve had the training to defend yourself, like the rest of us Enlisted. I heard that space travel is risky for everyone aboard the ship.” Nathan went into thought for a moment.

“This is your first mission?” I asked.

“I think we’re all literally a brand new crew. And the youngest. I’m pretty sure we all have the same story: got high marks throughout training and flew through the ranks.” he said with a smirk. I smiled back and nodded as two base carriers approached us on hover carts, our personal transports to the Vesper.

“Sorry to interrupt but the Admiral needs the Chief Warrant Officer to conduct the physicals immediately. Take-off has moved because of the storm.” one of the base carriers saluted. I was about to give Uepar and Nathan a coy look until Nathan immediately hopped in the first cart. 

“I suppose we don’t want to miss our flight then. See you two at the ship!” he grinned and tapped the carrier’s shoulder. The two took off, leaving me and Uepar to gawk after them. Well, at least I gawked. When I looked at Uepar, they just gave me a simple smile.

“I hate to ask but, do you consider yourself female?” their question made me blink, but I eventually nodded. “Well then, ladies first, as you humans say?” Uepar gestured toward the remaining cart, and I chuckled as I climbed in.

“For someone who’s genderless, that was mighty gentleman-y of you.” there was plenty of room for Uepar as they sat next to me with a laugh.

“Do you humans always have to put a gender on everything, even manners?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Have you seen the Spanish language?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t.” their brow creased a bit.

“Well, I won’t blow your mind all in one day then! We’ll ease you into that one.”

“I, oddly look forward to that.” Uepar continued to chuckle, but it was the way they looked at me that sent chills up and down my spine. I chuckled back and cleared my throat to stop that sensation from coursing throughout my body.

Note to self, Krystal: avoid the beautiful alien as much as you can.


	5. Three

I guiltily enjoyed the quick ride to the Vesper, particularly because I was so close to Uepar that I could smell whatever the sweet essence they exuded. It was faint, but even more pleasing. I caught myself leaning in to breathe in the scent and shifted more towards the edge. Hopefully, they weren’t aware of what I had done.

We didn’t speak during the quick trip, which was common amongst officers when they were in the presence of cadet enlistees: quite a few went to cadet school before enlisting. While a part of me wanted Uepar to speak to me, I was glad for their silence: it made me feel less like a lovesick schoolgirl as I snuck glances at them. It made me wonder why this was the first time I had seen a Saturnian up close and personal: they were a beautiful species. I also wondered if there were any humans mixed with Saturnian and how would our children look.

I blushed heavily at that random thought and decided that silence was probably a good thing.

Another rumble of thunder came through when we arrived at the airstrip, and I slightly watched as the crew members hurriedly made their way onto the Vesper. Up close, the ship was massive even though it classified as one of the smaller space crafts in the fleet being a cargo carrier. It could only hold fifty crew members comfortably so I knew that my medic crew would be lacking, perhaps only five Enlisted including myself.

Some Enlisted stopped only to salute me and Uepar, but I waved a dismissive hand at them. “At ease, at ease. Admiral wants us in the air soon, so let’s worry about those physicals.” I rushed and received a slightly uniformed chorus of Yes ma’ams. 

While I wasn’t in the engineer job class, being a Miles meant I knew the inside of every ship designed by someone in my family lineage. The Vesper was definitely a Miles creation; I found out as I went through the maze of narrow hallways to the medic bay with no problems. I skipped out on the walkthrough because nothing ever changed with a Miles spacecraft except the interior design and size.

I was off by one, remembering that I chose Specialist Bailey as one of the medics aboard: there were five medics in the infirmary area. I found it weird that they all saluted me, something that they didn’t have to do. I quirked a brow, but something told me to turn around and when I did, I damn near bumped into Uepar’s chest. I completely forgot that they were right behind me this whole time!

“U-Uepar!” I blushed because there weren’t too many who were significantly taller than me, I had to actually look up at them.

“Sorry. I thought it would be easier for me to simply follow you here. I could get my physical out of the way?”

“Okay, good point,” I nodded and turned to my crew. “The Admiral wants us launched before the storm hits. Should be a swarm heading here soon. I’ll take care of the Lieutenant first.” I led Uepar to an examination table while the others nodded.

I remembered the stories my grandmother would tell me–backed up by the history pamphlets–about how it was to visit the doctors for checkups. It was truly a nightmare, what they had to go through! I was thankful no one had to go through that anymore, and I had always smiled a little whenever I took the scanner out.

“You’re happy to give me a checkup?” I forgot that everyone could see the smile, and I felt a light blush going across my cheeks.

“O-Oh, no! I mean,” I sighed out and looked at them. “Was just thinking about how easy it is now to do a checkup. Did you kno–well, you probably didn’t know, but can you believe there was a time where we had to  _ take our clothes off _ for a physical?”

“Oh, your humanity–”

“Right?” it caught me off guard by the light snickers, and then I realized what Uepar said. I narrowed my eyes at the alien as they smirked. “I’m just glad the medical field caught up with technology.”

“Understandable. Your gods forbid you would have to stand in front of your medics nude.”

I widened my eyes and fought the laugh that wanted to bubble out because to their credit, it  _ was _ a bit funny. “Was that a jab?”

“What would happen if I said yes?”

“I would mark your examination with a negative and you’ll have to stay on Earth while we enjoy our cruise through space.” I grinned and Uepar chuckled.

“Then, no. Although I  _ do _ find it odd that humans have some sort of disdain towards nudity. Were you not born nude?”

“I wouldn’t call it a disdain,” I finished the scan and uploaded the images on my laptop. “Just a thing of decency? Some of us aren’t comfortable in our own skin, you know?”

“I like your skin,” they said matter-of-factly. I stopped what I was doing and looked at Uepar and I knew that if I was a couple of shades lighter, they would see me blush. “U-Uh,  _ human _ skin.” that didn’t make the situation any better, especially when the other medics couldn’t hold in their snickers. “That, that still didn’t come out right, did it…?” Uepar asked and I saw that their cheeks were a slight magenta. I cleared my throat for two reasons: to let the medics know to stop laughing and to keep my ears from burning so much from being flustered.

“That depends, actually. I don’t know much about Saturnians so, do we have to keep an eye on you? I’d hate for some Enlisted to come up missing.” I had hoped that Uepar knew I was joking. Slightly inappropriate jokes were my coping mechanism to keep me from blushing.

Thank the gods, they let out a hearty laugh, their eyes sparkling even more. “Silly human, I would start with the civilian crew so as not to create chaos early.”

“I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that you think we wouldn’t miss a civilian or the fact that your plan makes sense.” I caved in and laughed, especially when Uepar laughed as well.

A beep came from the laptop, and I looked over the completed scan of Uepar’s body. The program was universal, adapting to any, and every species documented so a medic didn’t need to know the makings of every alien species out there. Of course, it made for the better medic if they knew these things from the start, but it wasn’t a required course or lesson in medic training.

Everything was green from head-to-toe for Uepar and I nodded as I made a note of that, sending their scan to the ship’s medical files. I made a mental note that Uepar’s internal organs were very similar to a human’s: one heart, a pair of lungs, etc. I mean, they were in the wrong spots according to human anatomy but Uepar wasn’t human so that was a given. It was just fascinating because they were the first alien species I had seen who were  _ that _ much similar.

“Did I pass?” Uepar broke my train of thought and I chuckled.

“With flying colors! You’re ready for sleep stasis.”

Before launch, me and the medics had gone through fifty-three crew members, but they dwindled it down to thirty-eight, more than enough to handle the ins and outs of the Vesper. That meant there would be more than enough food for everyone and if not, the outposts were arranged in such a way that no vessel had to worry about running out of fuel or food: it wasn’t my job to know but I knew that even for a small ship, we would be half full by the time we reached Outpost B.

Our main concern would be space pirates, but they rarely attacked military vessels.

I didn’t count traveling from my outpost to Earth as anything, so this would technically be my first time fully traveling through outer space. I was a bit nervous as the remaining crew got ready for their sleep stasis. While ships were now commonly designed to withstand travel at nearly the speed of light, nothing changed about how a human body could–or rather, couldn’t–handle traveling that fast. 

Ships leaving Earth went through a hyper-jump to get somewhat near the first outpost if that was their destination. Otherwise, it was a continuous jump, which was how I traveled from Outpost T to Earth. They invented the stasis tube to keep a human’s body from imploding on itself during a jump. The sleep vapors weren’t necessary, but it made for a quicker trip and helped with a first-timer’s wrecked nerves.

I sighed as I climbed into my tube and situated myself; I didn’t know why I was as nervous as I was. I’d been through sleep stasis plenty of times, but I guess this would be the first one as an officer. I shook my head and waited for the tube to seal before waiting for the go-ahead to press the button to release the sleep vapors.

The main crew of a ship was put in one room as far as their tubes and we would be treated to a panoramic view of space when we woke up. That was what I concentrated on as we took off and were in Earth’s orbit. A computerized countdown was heard, and when it reached zero, I pressed the button. Light gas filled the tube, and I knew that within a few seconds, I would be knocked out, so I just closed my eyes and waited.

Something was wrong, I could tell. While I found out that vapor also came with a calming effect, I wasn’t sleepy like I should’ve been. There was a sound like gas was being released, even though that sound should’ve stopped seconds earlier. I opened my eyes and saw that the mist was leaving my tube. I looked around and saw that my tube hadn’t sealed properly, and I panicked when I felt a forceful tug through my body: the Vesper was going through its hyper-jump.

It was no wonder I was nervous: my gut instinct was telling me I was about to die. They taught us in prime school and then during job class training what it felt like for the body to go through a hyper-jump: the forceful tug was the first sensation and then it would feel like your body folding on itself followed by the feeling of your skin trying to flip inside out. By the time you felt that you’d lose consciousness, so that was at least your saving grace before death.

So, I closed my eyes and waited for the next step, but the only thing that happened was the tug decreased to a slightly uncomfortable feeling. I opened my eyes and saw that the mist from my tube was gone altogether. It was easy for me to push the tube open, and I did so. I crinkled my brow as I sat up and was treated to not only the view of how the hyper-jump looked but Uepar standing by the window, watching. Nothing else weird happened to my body, so I felt it safe to get out completely, to at least keep Uepar company.

They quickly turned around and gave me a simple look. “Oh. I wasn’t expecting to have company.”

“Trust me, I wasn’t expecting to be up!” I chuckled and slowly approached them. “The pamphlets lied.”

“I’m sorry?”

“We’ve always been told that our bodies can’t take traveling this fast, it’s why we stay in the tube during one. But, well, unless I’m already dead…” I chuckled and looked out of the panoramic window. Streaks of colors expanded out, making a spiral shape that appeared to constantly twist: it was mesmerizing because of the timid hues.

“I assure you that you’re not deceased.” Uepar chuckled and put their attention on the jump sequence. “You feel nothing at all?”

“A little pressure, but it’s bearable. I’ll have to put that down somewhere.”

“I imagine so. This is only my second time experiencing a jump, my first time visiting any of the outposts.” they nodded.

“Really? So, you went from Titan to Earth and that’s it?” I asked, and they chuckled.

“You know a bit about Saturnians. It makes me, happy that you know exactly where I’m from. But, yes.” their smile was kind, and it almost made me forget about the pressure.

“Why did you leave, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Unfortunately, I do mind.” Uepar surprised me. “It’s just that I’m not ready to discuss that with anyone, not yet.” they nodded and I did so along with them.

“Understandable. I guess we can just sit here in silence and enjoy the view.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”


	6. Four

I definitely noted how the jump affected me and I had never seen mechs work so quickly before in my life. I wasn’t a scientist, but something told me it was more than just a fluke I experienced. Luckily, we would only go through another jump and that would be when we returned to Earth in roughly six months.

The hyper-jump itself only lasted twenty minutes, but I enjoyed talking about nothing with Uepar. We didn’t have too much in common, but they were just overly kind and caring, and that sweet aroma wasn’t too bad to breathe in while we watched the swirling.

One thing Uepar was right about was the boredom. We reached the first outpost in four hours after the jump and their supplies were unloaded quickly and with no problems. We saw the sights for a couple of hours, bought things, and went back on board. It surprised me that Uepar joined me; I thought they would’ve been with the Captain. I didn’t mind the company, and it gave the two of us more time to get to know each other. But I found out that Nathan wasn’t in the mood to go off ship, and next in rank was me.

Still, I didn’t complain about the two of us going around the tourist areas together.

Those were the actual highlights on this mission, though. It was as though I lived for the next time we were on another outpost because life traveling through the expansive realms of space was boring as hell. A part of me really hoped that we would run into space pirates or something! Even being the medic was boring; all I did was tend to cuts and scratches that would heal on their own even without medical attention.

In between outposts, I found myself in the commissary. One thing I enjoyed was the various foods found on the outposts, so my souvenirs consisted mainly of food items. A lot of the outposts relied on Earth’s food supplies, but alien equivalents were a delicacy. I kept a good stash of alien food items, including ice cream.

One thing I enjoyed being on ship was that there wasn’t a set schedule for chow; Enlisted and civilians could come and go as they pleased so long as they didn’t pig out. I found the area oddly empty, but shrugged as I grabbed my container of Jupiterion ice cream: I’d be able to eat it in peace.

The ice cream was like no other and well worth the high price. It wasn’t like Earth ice cream at all. It came frozen as ice cream does, but as soon as it hit your mouth, it vaporized, leaving a tingling sensation in your mouth and throat. Then, because the main ingredient was helium, it changed your voice, which was why children loved the ice cream more than anyone. 

My favorite flavor was chocolate melt, and I smiled as I put a huge spoonful in my mouth. Another cool effect, pun intended, was the smoke when you blew out, like seeing your breath on a cold winter day. Now that no one was around, I practiced a couple of smoke tricks: making various sized circles and testing out my lung strength by inhaling them back in my mouth.

The smoke still had flavor and letting it dissipate felt like a waste to me.

“Interesting parlor trick,” I nearly choked at Uepar’s words. They gasped when they saw me flinch. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said after I finished what was in my mouth. Their expression reminded me of the little side effect of eating Jupiterion ice cream, my voice being deeper than usual.

“What…”

“Oh, ice cream from Jupiter.” I giggled and showed them the container. Uepar smirked and sat down beside me.

“I’ve heard of their ice cream. I thought it was a myth that it alters your vocal cords.” there was that scent again, and I realized that it may be their natural scent, overall. 

“You’ve never tried their ice cream?”

“I’ve only encountered ours and yours. Very similar.” they nodded, and I agreed. I had tried nearly every ice cream, alien, and human alike.

“You don’t like trying new things?” I asked, my voice trying to go back to normal. The effect didn’t last long after one bite. If someone was a glutton or depressed enough to eat an entire container in one sitting, their voice would be different for hours.

“I know it makes me closed-minded but I know what I like and I try to stick to that.” they gave me a look. Coupled with their smile, I felt my cheeks ache and I knew that it wasn’t because of the ice cream.

I smirked to keep the blush at bay and then looked at them. “You haven’t lived until you tried their ice cream!” I dug into the container and aimed the spoon at their mouth. 

I knew they would give me a particular look, but Uepar switched glances from me to the spoon. “Is it, safe for me to consume?”

“Pretty sure your stomach can handle it if mine can.” I smiled.

“Hmm,” the look they gave wasn’t of doubt but more like amusement. “And my voice will change just like yours?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I know that it does for humans. What does helium do to you?” because it was quickly melting, I took the bite instead and prepared another mouthful for them.

“I’ve never tried to  _ eat _ helium, so I’m not sure,” they chuckled. “But you are the medic, so I suppose that if anything goes wrong with me, you’ll fix it.” 

“Oh my God, you’re not a machine,” I couldn’t help but laugh, “But don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.”

“I’m glad.” they laughed along with me and I was stuck looking into their glittering eyes. I slowly blushed when I realized what we both said, and I forced myself to stop staring into their eyes.

“So, that means you’ll try it?” I handed them the spoon, and it felt that Uepar was glad to take it. They nodded and ate what I gave them. “Well?”

“What is this fla–” they stopped and then we both laughed; the ice cream had the same effect on their vocal cords as it did a majority of the humans, making their voice a bit high pitched and cartoonish.

“You like it? It’s my favorite: chocolate melt. They don’t make a good vanilla, but that’s my opinion.” I took another bite and went back to doing my smoke tricks. 

Uepar surprised me when they gently took the spoon and grabbed themselves another bite. “It’s delicious. I’d like to try the vanilla, though. Could you, teach me how to do that?” they watched as I inhaled the small circle of smoke back into my mouth.

“Yeah. I can do that.”

Because of the dullness, I looked forward to moments like that with Uepar. It felt like they were the only one who went out of their way to spend time with me, and I honestly didn’t have a problem with that. I thought we didn’t have much in common, but the more time we spent with each other, the more I realized that was wrong.

There were quite a few things we had in common.

It was another boring day on ship, or at least I thought it would be. It started off mundane enough, with me going through the usual checks before settling down in the medic wing. Bailey and I were having a random conversation while playing a lengthy game of N&D, but my mind slightly wandered off to Uepar. I wondered if they played any card games or gambled for that matter. Although the game was called Nickel and Dime, neither one was in circulation anymore, so we used whatever currency was available. It also made for a great drinking game. Still, I wondered what type of Saturnian currency they would use or if they even knew how to play the game.

The next time we were together, I would teach them the game so we could play.

The Vesper rattled, causing whatever was on any type of table to fall off and an alarm sounded, making the lights flicker in the room. Protocol was to secure our areas and await instructions from our captain, and me and Bailey did just that. I checked on the other medics, making sure they were accounted for and issued orders to take inventory. Right as I did, the artificial gravity gave way, and we found ourselves and other things not secured floating. 

Well, so much for a boring day.

It took a good while for me to leave the medic wing, but once out in the hallway, there were handles on the sides to help propel me to where I needed to go and that was to the bridge. Nathan and the others were, well, floating about in a frenzy, checking things on monitors and whatnot. I was medic and nothing else so I didn’t know about the makings on the bridge: it was a good guess that they were trying to figure out what the hell happened and to get things back to normal, at least with the artificial gravity. Uepar was noticeably missing, but Nathan looked over at me.

“Krys! I’m so glad you had the sense to come here.”

“Si–what happen–” my attention went to the panoramic window that spread across the entire bridge: we were going through an asteroid belt and I quickly put two and two together. Nathan finally secured himself in the captain’s seat and began guiding the Vesper through the rocks.

“I got people working on things as quickly as possible, but I got a few Enlisted not accounted for. The lieutenant went with Vodka to grab Blondie but seeing that I can still maneuver, the engines are fine,” he explained while dodging the rocks. 

The one thing I liked about Nathan was his penchant for assigning nicknames to people. Granted, the majority of the Enlisted called these guys by the same nicknames, but the captain called them  _ only _ that. Sergeant Smirnov was a given because of his last name and yes, his family were the ones who created the famous vodka: with so many variations of human and alien liquor, we now considered their brand bottom shelf so it was no wonder he enlisted. Lance Corporal Austin unfortunately had the honor of being born with pure blond hair. Sure, Nathan was blond, but there was some sort of brown mixed in with his so it wasn’t as  _ yellow _ as Austin’s. 

Regardless, I nodded. “I’ll go look for them.”

“Thanks!” he said without looking at me, and I left the bridge. It was a good thing that I knew the Vesper like the back of my hand. I would avoid the engine room but there was another place where the two could be and that was the lower deck where the civilians were. There were Enlisted who specialized in certain things, and we could’ve very well had an entire crew of nothing but military. But the civilians were basically our contractors, and that left an Enlisted to do other things.

It was a madhouse when I got to the lower deck, but my instincts were right as I spotted Uepar and Smirnov. The civilians bombarded me with questions but reassured them that everything was fine and to go back into their quarters to secure themselves. The look on the lieutenant’s and sergeant’s face told a different story. “What’s going on?” I asked when the hallway cleared.

“We can’t get to the mech’s quarters. The door is jammed.” his English was perfect, but Smirnov still held a heavy Russian accent. 

“We need the civilian mechs to fix our communication problem and also to unjam their door.” Uepar’s eyes glistened, but there was a sense of sadness in them. I knew exactly why. The mechs couldn’t do their job if they were shut in, and there was no way for them to fix  _ that _ from their end.

I looked Smirnov over and saw another problem. He was the engineer for the Vesper and could fix nearly everything on her. But he was too bulky to fit into the area to unjam the doors to any of the quarters. Because I knew the ins and outs, I knew that the area was a tight squeeze. “Okay. The captain needs a headcount so you can go look for the Lance Corporal and go back to the bridge.”

“Yes, ma’am.” he didn’t hesitate with my order and left. Uepar looked at me.

“What will we do? The sergeant is the only one who can fix the problem.”

“No, he’s not,” I smirked and floated towards the maintenance area, hoping that Uepar would follow. “My job class may be medic, but you know my last name, right?”

“Yes. It’s Miles.” their forehead crinkled slightly before their pink eyes widened. “Oh, yes! You are supposed to be an engineer.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. And I kinda failed that part of the SMET. But there’s a few things that I do know. Are all communications down?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, that should be the first thing we take care of. Actually, I’ll go check and see if there are any other areas stuck. Medic wing was fine.”

“What should I do?”

“So, I’m thinking that since  _ all _ communications are down, it has to be fixed at the source and not at the panel. You’re the communications officer; not that it’ll be an easy fix, but you should be able to take a look and figure out what’s wrong.”

“... I will try.” 

“Okay, I’ll meet you there after I’m done.” I gave them a reassuring smile, and we went our separate ways.

It took a while because of the zero gravity, but I found out the only doors that were jammed were the mechs’. I thought Uepar would have the communications fixed by then, but received no answer when I tried to page them or anyone else. I made my way to the communications control room and saw that the door was ajar. “Uepar? Everything okay?” there was something stuck in the door and as I passed through, I pulled it out, it looked like a metal case.

“Krystal, don–” Uepar let out a gasp as the door slid shut, and we were in slight darkness. I could see that the room was smaller than I expected it to be and floated right into the alien. They said something in their language and I assumed it was a curse word. “Now, we’re stuck.”

“What?” I automatically blushed because they held me in place to keep from bumping into anything else.

“The door shorted as soon as I came in. I had to put something there to keep it from trapping me in here.”

“ _ Oh _ ! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s… it’s fine. Not really. I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the system and therefore, no one knows we’re locked inside.”

“Well,” I looked over the system but then sighed. “Maybe I should’ve went to maintenance first. I’m sorry.”

“This was not your fault. It made sense to restore communications first. I’m afraid that, I don’t know how, if I am being honest with you.” even in the dim room, I could see that their cheeks were magenta and it was enough to make me chuckle.

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

“You gave me an order,” they answered sheepishly.

“Well, from here on out, if you don’t know how to do something, let me know. Besides, I’m not the commanding officer here, so you’re allowed to take my orders with a grain of salt!” I continued to laugh, but they gave me a confused look.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what that means.”

“Ah. That means don’t take my orders to heart. Or at least speak out. But we can figure this out together. What got you stuck?” I gave them a slight smile and then looked over at the control panel.

“How to remove the panel for starters. Also, I’ve never worked under zero gravity, so this is proving to be quite challenging,” they admitted, and I nodded.

“Fair enough. Now, if I can just, maneuver around you?” I realized once more that they still held me in place.

“A-Ah, yes…” their entire face turned magenta and that sweet aroma invaded my nostrils. A tiny thought came through about me being fine right where I was. But Uepar removed their hands from my waist and I was free to float over to the other side of them to the toolbox that banged against the wall. I had to admit that repairing things was in my blood: putting them together from scratch was not, a huge part of why I failed the engineering portion of the SMET. I knew that Uepar should have some knowledge about the communications system of a spacecraft and hoped that their only problem was removing the panel. 

As I grabbed the tools I needed, I glanced at their taloned hands and realized that they probably would have a tough time repairing something, and possibly didn’t want to just rip the panel away. 

Uepar tried to move out of my way but with as little room as we had, that was complicated, particularly with their tail taking up most of the space. In a comedy film, it would be funny and I promised myself that if we got out of there, I would laugh about it later. But they had every right to complain about working in zero gravity. It made removing the panel more difficult than it should’ve been. After a while, it was finally removed, and we both looked at the wires strewn about, quite a few looked as though they had been dislodged. 

“You work so fluently under these circumstances,” Uepar said, and my cheeks ached oddly.

“Trust me, that was harder than it looked. I’ve never trained in zero gravity.”

“Forgive me, but I find that very hard to believe.” they chuckled, and I joined them, looking over my shoulder.

“Well? Does any of this look familiar?” I asked, and they leaned in to get a closer look. Again, I was greeted with what I just chalked up to be their natural scent, and the odd warmth from them.

“Yes, but my hands won’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Talk me through it,” I cleared my throat so it didn’t come out as a whisper.

What was wrong with me, why did my entire body warm up to Uepar being so close to me?

It didn’t take long for the box to hum back to life, the soft lights bringing more light into the small room. I sighed out in relief and before I could say anything, I felt myself planted on the floor. The suddenness of having gravity back made me slip and Uepar immediately grabbed me, trying to not let me fall. But I had grabbed a hold of them and brought them down with me, the two of us landing hard on the ground. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. Are  _ you _ okay?” they looked at me and yet again, I warmed up underneath their gaze. I couldn’t do anything but nod, at a loss of words. “You did it.” they smiled.

“No,  _ we _ did it.” I smiled back, and they chuckled. 

Normally, someone would help the other up from the ground, but neither one of us moved. The biggest thing was that I didn’t mind the two of us laying there, Uepar staring into my eyes. I could feel their heartbeat–slow, but that was how a Saturnian heartbeat was. But the longer we stared at each other, their heart rate quickened little by little. I then realized that their face inched closer to mine and their natural scent seemed to waft all around.

“U-Uepar, wha–”

“This is the captain speaking. Control room, identify yourself.” Nathan’s voice blared through the room, stopping whatever was about to happen between me and Uepar. 

“Lieutenant Uepar and Chief Warrant Officer Miles.” they still looked at me, their face entirely rosy though. Their heartbeat went back to normal, but mine couldn’t.

We were about to kiss… and Nathan ruined it.

“Oh! Wait. You  _ both _ are in there? How?” his question reminded me just how close we were and I blushed all to high hell. It was enough to break both of our trances and Uepar finally got up, pulling me up along with them.

I didn’t know how I felt about it because my mind was absolutely swimming.

“Never mind all of that. We’re stuck inside. The door is jammed like the one for the mech’s quarters.” I gained my composure when I was upright.

“Okay, Vodka told me about the mechs. You guys will have to hang tight until we can figure this out. At least the gravity is back and we’re out of the asteroid belt. Need anything?” I could hear the smirk and I narrowed my eyes at the control box.

“You find a way to do that and I’ll kiss you!” I didn’t realize how bad of a choice it was for me to use those words until they flew out of my mouth.

“Now, now, officer: no need to get poor Uepar jealous!” Nathan roared with laughter and Uepar and I  _ both _ blushed.

Wait, what?

“C-Captain!” their eyes widened and Nathan continued to laugh.

Did Nathan know that Uepar liked me in that way? Was I the only one clueless about it…? I looked over at the alien, whose face hadn’t turned back to its normal color. I didn’t know if they felt the same as I did, but I felt a certain way about looking at them, so I glared back at the communications control box.

I wasn’t ready to deal with these sudden feelings about Uepar, regardless of that tantalizing aroma that now filled the room. We would just have to wait things out, in awkward silence.


End file.
